Sudan

Sudanese Women Artists

Text and Pictures by KYMSNET / Kimani wa Wanjiru

For a very long time now, Sudan has continued to be in the news around the world and if the current atrocities and humanitarian crisis in its Western Darfur region is anything to go by, then we haven't heard the last of this vast African giant. Her long-drawn-out war with her Southern population is without doubt one of the longest civil war in Africa and just when the world thought that things would cool down after the Naivasha agreement, Darfur flared up and the country is once again making headlines.

The country was once again in the news in Kenya and it was pleasant to talk about another facet of the country that is hardly in the media.

For three weeks, art lovers and connoisseurs in Kenya savoured different appetizing works of art from Sudan courtesy of the Sudanese Women Artists Association and it was insightful.

The exhibition (4-21 August 2004) that was held at Nairobi's Ramoma Rahimtulla Museum of Modern Art in Nairobi brought together 10 gifted artists was at one level, a celebration of their feminity and a statement of their desire to pursue their dream considering the kind of difficulties they experience as women artists.

"Our culture places a lot of restrictions for women artists," noted Omima Hasab El Rasoul, a sculptor. "This exhibition and the many others that we have done elsewhere in the world are a vivid expression of what we are capable."
Women's Body by Sana M Albashir

Citing their ordeal to travel to Nairobi for this exhibition, Omima said that their culture stipulates that women have to be chaperoned. I learnt that it is even worse for the unmarried ones. The unmarried artists had to undergo a long clearance process for their Nairobi visit.

She argued that in spite of the complimentary roles that men and women play, women are still considered as being unable to take care of themselves fully and they always have to be guided.

Although it sounded a little bit contradictory and this is debatable, they were categorical that the restrictions have got nothing to do with religion. It would be however, interesting to know the level and influence of religion to culture and history. She is fascinated by this complimentary roles and it forms a central role in her thematic concerns in her works. She had beautiful sculptures of "two in one" figures that are quite expressive.

Although these beautiful double images are not necessarily man and woman, their understated message is on collectiveness and the importance of tapping on each other's strengths.

One People by Sana M Albashir

Women are a common theme in most of the works that were exhibited. They are strong images of hopeful women that seem to suggest that rather than feeling sorry, lets rise to change our lot. It is all said in an engrossing subtlety that is quite awe-inspiring.

"I like working with various images of the woman's body that I find to very expressive," noted Sana Mohammed Al Tayeb, who has held several solo and group exhibitions in and outside Sudan.

She told Kymsnet that her most memorable exhibition Dreams of Our Daughters that she held in South Africa in 2003 and it had mesmerizing paintings of women, culture and their dreams. See: http://www.africancolours.com/?content/dreams15.html

Feeling Good by Sana Mohammed al Tayeb
There were numerous images influenced by tradition and particularly music. There were women traditional dancers often done with oil on canvas depicting them in various situations. As it would be expected the war has been a great source of inspiration for all of them. This is invariably handled but their desire for peace cannot be gainsaid. "Art, it is said, is not a mirror but a hammer; it does not reflect, it shapes," noted Leon Trotsky in his book Literature and Revolution.

The Sudanese Women Artists Association's exhibition was certainly an eye-opener of the little but significant struggle by the women in this vast country that is often full of surprises.

Their collective energy and enthusiasm to remain in the art in spite of all the hurdles, is a statement of their desire to comment about their society and like Trotsky said hammer it into shape.

The Association has over 70 members, who are all well trained at Khartoum's College of Fine and Applied Art. Apart from holding solo and group exhibitions in Khartoum, Cairo, Riyadh, and in other major cities around the world, they host art workshops for street children and women in the rural areas. Most of them have also attended several capacity building workshops particularly in Alanus Hochshule in Bonn Germany.

http://sudan.africancolours.net/content/1857

Abstract by Fatima Hassan

names of all participating artists:

Suzan Ibrahim, Fatima Hassan, Najat Elmahi, Mai Abdalaziz Salih, Omima Hasabalrsoul, Samani M Alhassan, Taissir Abdalgadir, Nahla Mahdi, Naema Hussein, Fatima Ibnaof, Zeinab Tigani , Sana M Albashir